On the 2nd of July 2014, the Honorable Supreme Court of India gave a landmark judgment while granting interim bail to an accused under Section 498A of the IPC popularly known as the Dowry Law. During the judgment the court acknowledged that the dowry law is being misused a lot and a huge number of false cases are filed.

During the last 30 odd
years of the implementation of the infamous Section 498A, millions of
young innocent men and their families have been wrongfully arrested,
blackmailed and extorted and underwent the ignominy of being jailed
without investigation or trial.

Time and again, the
courts have warned the Govt. to take note of the growing misuse of
dowry laws but to no avail and all such observations have fallen on
deaf ears with abuse of men continuing unabated.

Although this decision
comes as a ray of hope for those fearing arrest without trial or
investigation in a false dowry case, and would be a succor for many a
families ravaged by the impact of misuse of Section 498A - termed
as Legal Terrorism by the very same Honorable Supreme Court as long
back as 20th July 2005 in Sushil Kumar Sharma vs. Union of
India, however, we are still skeptical about the efficacy of
implementation.

We expect Narendra Modi
Sarkar to take this judgment seriously and implement it in spirit and
letter and ensure that a copy of the judgment reaches all the State
DGPs and Chief Secretaries who, in turn, issue necessary directions
to all the police stations and courts for following the guidelines
mentioned in the judgment and to implement Section 41A of CrPC
properly.

The police cannot
now immediately arrest husband and his family members, merely on a
complaint without trial or investigation. They also cannot call up
the husband and terrorize him on phone. They must mandatorily issue a
"Notice of
appearance" under
Section 41A CrPC as mandated by this judgment and CrPC Amendment Act
2010 to the accused.

Also, the courts cannot
use the power to arrest and hold the husband and his family at
ransom. We have come across many cases of gross violation of human
rights of men and their families accused under Section 498A wherein
they are not provided a fair trial and in open courts, lower class
magistrates ask men to cough up huge sums of money to their estranged
wives or else go to jail. This trend is badly catching up in Delhi,
Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Ghaziabad and adjoining areas. This is
nothing short of institutionalized and state sponsored blackmail and
extortion.

This judgment is a very
small step towards alleviating men from this legal trauma and onus
lies on Modi Sarkar to see to it that the judgment is implemented in
its right spirit. States like UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan are dark
places for men accused under 498A as they are not granted bail and
are made to undergo extreme torture on the basis of an unverified
complaint by wife.

Even, in the case at
hand, wherein the Supreme Court gave these guidelines, it was the
case of man from Bihar, who was denied interim bail and had to go all
the way to the Supreme Court just to get temporary relief in the case
whereas he was ready to co-operate with the authorities. This shows
the level of insensitivity that exists in our police and judiciary
despite numerous judgments, media reports, studies and research
reports talking in volumes about the rampant misuse of Section 498A,
the false cases therein and the inhuman torture of men as a result.

There are innumerable
cases where courts force men to reunite with their abusive wives or
face jail and in many cases the courts endanger the lives of both the
husband and the wife since a cornered man can also resort to crime.
Of late, such cases are coming to light where abused and tormented
men are killing their wives as the courts had forced them to live
together despite a soured relationship and the man being abuse to the
core.

While, this judgment
definitely calls for celebrations, what now needs to be seen is
whether this judgment remains yet another paper tiger or can actually
fetch some relief to millions of families of men suffering from the
onslaught of Legal Terrorism.

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About The Author

Virag R Dhulia, a software professional, has been a prominent men's rights activist. He has been engaged in creating awareness about the abuse of men and their families through anti-male and gender biased laws like Section 498A, Domestic Violence Act etc. He has been instrumental in networking with fellow men's rights activist both across India and abroad and has played key roles in organizing events to create awareness about abuse of men by the society. A book titled, 'The Secrets of Manhood' authored by Virag has been published. This book is a collection of short articles which focus on issues and problems faced by men and how men are victims of social stereotypes.